kingsman1

In 1971 Hamburg Kingsmen in the rome new york show used a car to bring the corps on the field I think it was a dodge dart. The car entered the field and drove around the track and everyone wondered what the car was doing then the car stopped at the front sideline and 5 drummers got out and played a street beat using the car as an instrument. They used slamming of the doors as the base drum, the hub caps as symbols the hood as a snare and kept it all in time to the wipers and flashing lights. the crowd went nuts!!!! Then after the corps lined up on the starting line they got back in the car drove off the field and joined the rest of the drumline and played themselves on to the field.

I was referring to the hamburg kingsman in my post. they used 9lb rifles not balsa It was at a time when corps were starting to use the balsa ones

Yes the years that I marched with the kingsmen we had by far the best rifle squad in drum corps. They used 9lb rifles with fixed bayonets and even made a toss facing back to back over my head during one of my solos

1956 erepa grotto drum and bugle corps

Hope that you enjoy your special day and many more to come ! jerry

Oh I remember it well. Our horn line was not only clean but extremely powerful as all in the line were accomplished players and produced. There ere no slackers. I remember seeing people after we started playing actually counting the horn line in disbelief as to the sound production. That was clearly one of the best hornlines that i ever played with and you all know I have played with many Jerry

I for one will never get over that night nor will i ever forgive whitey roberts for what he did!!!!!!

Back in the seventies when i was with the hamburg kingsmen there was such a rivalary with the crusaders that we called them the Green Slime. Little did I know that years later I would become a member of the crusaders and enjoyed some of my best years in drum corps. Jerry

In 72 I marched with the hamburg kingsmen and the reason our recording at the end of the show seemed not as loud as the other corps was that during the exit we left the field by the traditional end zone and then we trooped the stands while playing the exit number. The we turned and made a coumpany front not more than 5 feet from the people in the stands. We played our closing fanfare of manhatten towers into the faces of the fans while our drum majors directed from about 10 rows up into the stands. The recording mikes were entirely behind the corps and that is why it didn"t come out on the recording. I am proud to have been part of the corps that changed drumcorps drill forever. This was the genius of fred gebhart our drill desighner

Why don't you call the corps the presque-islanders Jerry

I actually started out playing violin in grade school. My father told me that if I would play an instrument provided by the school for one year he would let me play any instrument that I wanted . I played for the year then the next year I said that I wanted to play a trumpet but my father said that I was doing so well with the violin that I should continue. He just didn"t want to spend the money to get me a trumpet I reminded him of our agreement so he bought me a old beat up horn that I had to tape with scotch tape so it wouldn't leak air. We didn"t have the money for lessions so I taught myself to play and the rest is history. My dad was so impressed with me that he bought me a brand new trumpet my senior year in high sghool. my first organization I played with was a drum and bugle corps sponsered by the erepa groto. We played on g bugles with no valves. Each horn was voiced in a different medium such as soporano, tenor french bari. I was 10 years old

I also remember those bells. Most corps carried them in the late 60"s and early seventies as there was no such thing as a "Pit" If anything was to be played in those days It had to be carried and marched in the drill including typani. The only time that you could ground the typani was during the concert. We carried those when I marched with the kingsman Jerry

US Navy april 66-Jan 70 Hospital Corpsman US Marines, Vietnam Mar 68-Jun 69

Tom,with over 40 years in drum corps you pretty much know my credentials. Having marched under the Tic system,the subjective system of today and maybe you remember when bruni wanted to use the applause meter for the ge scores I used to really let it get me mad at the outcome of the shows I competed in. I finally resolved to the fact that for me it didn"t matter what the final score was but if the croud in attendance thought we got hosed and should have won it made the ride home for me easier. Jerry

Tom Since retireing from work and drum corps I have been playing "taps" at military funerals for the last 6 years. Sometimes we are payed as gas prices have soared but also I play a lot for free as I believe that is the least I can do for a fellow veteran. Being a vietnam veteran I can only hope that some day when my family will need someone to play over my grave that the favor will be repaid. I not only play here in the erie area but work with 3 or 4 veteran groups in a 60 mile radius from erie Jerry

We didn't refer to collin as the coach but he was known to us as the CHIEF!

As I remember it ticket sales were lagging for finals that night because the weather was horrible and steel city was the favorite to win finals. Most people you talked to were only going to attend pre-lims because they thought there would be little placement change between prelims and finals. Most people were in shock at the tie for first that day but that is what boosted sales for the night show. I'm not taking anything away from the cabs or the bushwackers but the outcome of that show was a shock to everyone that night. We were still under the TIC system which had enabled one judge to be totally out of line with the rest of the caption judges. It was so obvious when you looked at the sheets you could see what he had done. They knew that the fans would have been very upset if the cabs had won the show that night so the bushwackers were moved to first and steel city took second that night. This was all to the doing of Whitey Roberts caption sheet. As you know back then there were no critiqeus after finals so the judge in question could not be confronted with what he did until the next years first DCA meeting. I dont bring this up to cause any hard feeling with any of my friends in drum corps but just wanted to show how dca was run in those days !!!!!!

Gee I remember a certain story that rabbit told me when I marched in steel city about a girl, a pair of handcuffs and a beautiful sunrise. That is one of the funniest stories I ever heard.

My signature tells it all

It is definately an addiction!!!!!! During my 40 year career I took a short break from drum corps in the late seventies I wouldn't even go near a corps or a show because I knew that one single exposure would light the fire again. Finally a friend talked me into going to a show with him as I thought that enough time had passed and it would have no effect on me, but was I ever wrong. I had been away from the activity long enough that when I ran into friends that night at the show they were shocked that I was there. When I asked them why they told them that a rumor had gone through DCA that I had a heart attack and died. We to this day still have a lot of laughs over that. After watching santa clara that night I turned to my wife and said I have to do this again. The very next week I was on the field. That is why even to this day you don't see me at any of the shows. all it would take is that one exposure to to release the beast again Jerry

I retired in 2002 from General Electric at the age of 55 with 37 1/2 years. I spent the first year of my retirement hunting, fishing, and sailing . I then got a partime job working 2 days a week as the archery tech at gander mountain. I also play taps at the military funerals in the area. Jerry

Although I have known tom through the years as we were always marching with corps that competed against each other, I really got to become better friends after 1988 when I left steel city and joined cru to finish the year. Tom became one of my best drum corps friends that year. Many a time I stayed at tom and dianes during those seasons.I agree Tom has always had the best interest of drum corps at heart and I also think that he belongs in the HALL OF FAME Jerry

GENEVA, I agree with you that once pandoras box was opened and we as an activity started to allow ourselves to be manipulated by the horn industry our fate was sealed. If you think back at all the changes that were made,g-d to gf, one valve and rotor to two valve and then on to three,these changes allowed more versitility of the "bugle" and expansion of arrangements to a more sofisticated style and sound but still held to the challanges of a bugle. The industry as each change came into form would always make sure that the top DCI corps and Dca corps were given incentives or complete horn lines to make their transformations. Thus other corps were "forced" to make the changes to remain competitive. Sometimes it took a few years till the other corps could make the changes because of the cost involved. It seems that the same holds true in the transformation today from g to bflat. We can only blame ourselves for allowing ourselves to be manipulated by a few. I realize that it is too late to return to our original idenity but I hope all who read this will take this into consideration on any further changes in the activity. Jerry

Donny I value you as a good friend and respect your talents as you already know. I replied to this post only to voice my opinion. I personally feel that making the switch to b flat horns may make the playing and writing of arrangements easier for some I just feel that the direction that drum corps has taken as a hole has been bastardized into a marching band medium. As you know I also play most brass instruments in the key of b flat but the differance in the marching bands and drum corps was the ability to work around the limitations of the arramgements and instrumentation. This gave us the the uniqueness of the activity. This was our major identifying factor. Being able to play instruments and make the key abdactations made guys like you and I the players that we are today. I wish you guys all the luck and I know that G>R> will make a great showing this year. Hope to see you guys in the future Jerry

Doug, I never thought I would see the day that the ghost riders would leave the drum corps medium and become a B flat brass choir. Jerry